Sau - "Boig per tu"
This is a rock ballad that has become a classic love song for Catalan speakers. It became even more of a hit after the singer (Carles Sabater) died from a heart attack, aged 36, right after a concert. The song has recently become the center of a minor "polemic" because Shakira has recorded a cover of it, in Catalan. Some people said things like "she shouldn't be singing in Catalan, she's appropriating our culture!", I think she has done a pretty good job of her cover but, as they say, haters gonna hate.
"Boig per tu"
En la terra humida escric
"Nena, estic boig per tu".
Em passo els dies
esperant la nit.
Com et puc estimar
si de mi estàs tan lluny?
Servil i acabat,
boig per tu.
(chorus)
Sé molt bé que des d'aquest bar
jo no puc arribar on ets tu.
Però dins la meva copa veig
reflexada la teva llum.
Me la beuré.
Servil i acabat,
boig per tu.
Quan no hi siguis al matí
les llàgrimes es perdran
entre la pluja
que caurà avui.
Em quedaré atrapat,
ebri d'aquesta llum.
Servil i acabat,
boig per tu.
(chorus) x 2
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"Crazy about you"
In the wet sand I write
"Baby, I'm crazy about you".
I spend my days
waiting for the night.
How can I love you
if you're so far away from me?
Servile and done with,
crazy about you.
(chorus)
I know very well that from this bar
I cannot get to where you are.
But inside of my glass I see
a reflection of your light.
I'll drink it.
Servile and done with,
crazy about you.
When you're not there in the morning,
my tears will be lost
in the rain
that will fall down today.
I'll become trapped,
drunk on this light.
Servile and done with,
crazy about you.
(chorus) x 2
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Sopa de Cabra - "L'Empordà"
This one is, again, a classic of Catalan rock ("rock català", very popular in the 90s). I was obsessed over this band when I was a teenager, and though this is probably not my favourite song by them, it's their most popular. I think most Catalan people have drunkenly sung this at least once... haha. I chose this video because it's full of pictures of the shire in Catalonia the song is named after. (Sorry about the cheesy square transitions between photographs, though) This is a live recording, you can hear the audience singing along and the singer at the beginning of the video saying "Teniu ganes de seguir cantant, o què?" (Do you fancy singing some more, or what?). The audience obviously answers "Sí!" (Yes). :)
"L'Empordà"
Nascut entre Blanes i Cadaqués,
molt tocat per la tramuntana.
D'una sola cosa en pots estar segur,
quant més vell més tocat de l'ala.
(chorus)
Sempre deia que a la matinada es mataria,
però cap al migdia anava ben torrat.
Somriu i diu que no té pressa,
"Ningú m'espera allà dalt,
i anar a
l'infern no m'interessa,
és molt
més bonic l'Empordà".
I varen
passar ampolles i anys,
i en Siset encara aguantava.
Dormint la mona a la vora del Ter,
però ell mai no s'hi tirava.
(chorus) x2
"I quan veig la llum de l'alba
se'm treuen les ganes de marxar.
Potser que avui no em suïcidi,
potser ho
deixi fins demà."
Fins
demà...
Fins
demà...
|
"The
'Empordà'" (*1)
Born in
between Blanes and Cadaqués (*2)
very much
"touched" by the North wind. (*3)
You can
be sure of only one thing,
the older
the crazier.
(chorus)
He always
said he'd kill himself in the
small hours,
but by
midday he was out of his face drunk.
He smiles
and says there's no hurry:
"No one is waiting for me up there,
and going
to Hell doesn't appeal to me,
the
Empordà is much more beautiful".
Bottles
and years went by,
and Siset
still hung in there. (*4)
Sleeping
it off by the river Ter, (*5)
but never
throwing himself in it.
(chorus) x 2
"And
when I see the light of dawn
I don't
fancy going away anymore.
Maybe I
shouldn't kill myself today,
I'll put
it off until tomorrow."
Until tomorrow...
Until tomorrow...
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Translation notes:
1 - The 'Empordà' is a shire in North-East Catalonia, currently divided in two: l'Alt i el Baix Empordà (High and Low Empordà)
2 - Blanes and Cadaqués are two towns in the coastline, they broadly encompass the Empordà coastline.
3 - "Touched" in Catalan has the same nuances as in English: if someone is defined as "touched", that means they are crazy.
4 - "Siset" is an endearing nickname for someone called "Narcís" (lit. Narcissus), a very traditional and old-fashioned Catalan first name.
5 - The river Ter has its spring at the Pyrenees, it goes through Girona and ends at the Mediterranean sea at L'Estartit, in the Low Empordà.
Dani Flaco - "Que tinguem sort"
This is a cover version of a song by Lluís Llach, a very famous Catalan singer-songwriter. I chose Dani Flaco's cover because I just like it better!
"Que tinguem sort"
Si em dius adéu,
vull que el dia sigui net i clar.
Que cap ocell
trenqui l'harmonia del seu cant.
Que tinguis sort,
i que trobis el que t'ha mancat
amb mi.
Si em dius "et vull",
que el sol faci el dia molt més llarg.
I així robar
temps al temps d'un rellotge aturat.
Que tinguem sort,
que trobem tot el que ens va mancar
ahir.
(chorus)
I així pren, i així pren,
tot el fruit que et pugui donar.
El camí que poc a poc
escrius per demà.
Que demà, que demà,
mancarà el fruit a cada pas.
Per això malgrat la boira
cal caminar.
Si véns amb mi,
no demanis un camí planer.
Ni estels d'argent,
ni un demà ple de promeses, sols
un poc de sort
i que la vida ens doni un camí ben llarg.
(chorus) x2
|
"May we be lucky"
If you say goodbye to me,
I want the day to be neat and clear.
May no bird
break the harmony of its singing.
May you be lucky,
and may you find what you've lacked
with me.
If you say "I want you",
may the sun make the day much longer.
So we can steal time
from a stopped clock's time.
May we be lucky,
and may we find all we lacked
yesterday.
(chorus)
So take, so take
all the fruit it can give you.
The path you, little by little,
write for tomorrow.
Because tomorrow, because tomorrow,
the fruit will be lacking at every step.
That's why, fog and all,
we must keep walking.
If you come with me,
don't ask for a smooth path.
Nor for silver stars,
or a tomorrow full of promises, just
a bit of luck
and may life give us a very long path.
(chorus) x 2
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I wanted to include some more songs, but the post is getting too long, so more of this tomorrow! :)
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